I went against all I believed in and fell in love with what should have been a one-night stand! I fought it, tried to make up rules to prevent the inevitable, but somehow, he knew all along. He understood what I wanted and was willing to comply. I was the one who took him for granted. I was the one who made him walk away. And now, he’s gone and I’m left with nothing but my thoughts and regrets. He was never supposed to be my happily ever after. But my favorite love story ends in tragedy, so why wouldn’t mine?

RYDER

I played the white knight, doing what every woman dreams of to win her over, yet it still got me nowhere! But what did I expect? I wasn’t the man she wanted! Nothing I could have done would have landed me the girl. I guess love is funny that way. One minute, you think you have the girl, and the next, you realize you were blinded. Walking away was hard, but watching her with another man was harder. Sometimes you have to pick your battles, and I know when I’ve lost. Love shouldn’t be a game, but I learned someone always loses. For once, I wasn’t the one being selfish, but I was the one who paid the price.

Shantel is a Texas born girl who now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her high school sweetheart, who is a wonderful, supportive husband and their seven year old little princess. She loves to spend time cuddled up on the couch with a good book.

She considers herself extremely lucky to get to be a stay at home wife and mother. Going to concerts and the movies are just a few of her favorite things to do. She hates coffee, but loves wine. She and her husband are both huge football fans, college and NFL. And she has to feed her high heel addiction by shopping for shoes weekly.

Although she has a passion to write, her family is most important to her. She loves spending evenings at home with her husband and daughter, along with their cat and dog.

“Do not cry. God. You look so god-damned beautiful. You knew this would never be anything. I took you, Imogen. Think about that, would you? I captured you. Enslaved you. Tormented you. Threatened you. Every day would be a reminder of that past.”

At last, the conclusion to the story of Imogen, a young maiden taken by her enemy on her wedding night by the mysterious and powerful Erik, is complete in this four-volume set, Tattered, Tormented, Threatened, and Tethered. Questions are answered, pasts are finally revealed, and as the war that brought this couple together comes to an end, can Imogen forgive Erik for what he is about to do?

Filled with mixed emotions about her undeniable feelings for her captor, Imogen struggles between hopes of freedom with the reality of first staying safe. As she learns the stories and legends of her captor’s history, so deeply intertwined with her own past, she begins to question everything. Fear, lust, jealousy, love, death, and ultimately truth explode all at once.

Messy. Complicated. Unexpected.

With cruel and unkind soldiers waiting to sink into and corrupt Imogen’s innocence, Imogen faces imminent danger and a cruel and humiliating test at the hands of Erik that leaves her more confused than ever. As another slave vies for and succeeds at getting Erik’s attention as well, is Imogen’s safety even a priority for him anymore? Or is he in love with someone else?

This dark, suspenseful romance puts the emotional gamut into a blender and hits the on button. What pieces will remain? You may want to go back and start the series over from the beginning to put it all back together. And maybe even again after that!

“Imogen?” Erik put his arms around me from behind, our bodies touching, lying on our sides, and he traced small circles across my lower abdomen until I began to squirm. His erection pushed into the crack of my ass, and I felt myself pooling with arousal between my thighs. He kissed my neck and whispered in my ear. “Go back to sleep.” The gruff gravel of it vibrated, spreading goosebumps to every part of my body. My arms were in pain, still tied behind my back, and I groaned a bit. “Erik. My arms. Please.” He continued to touch me just above the spot I craved him to and kissed my neck repeatedly. My body grew warm and needy, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to fight it, trying not to admit or accept that what he was doing felt good. I squeezed my legs firmly together to try to hide the wet, sticky mess I was making, clenching to alleviate some of the ache. “Still,” he ordered. His hands moved away from my pleasure spot and traveled under my breasts, and he touched them like a feather would, and I accidentally moaned his name and shook my legs to try to relieve some of the pressure mounting. He chuckled into my neck. “Go back to sleep or I will torture you this way until I need to go work.” He tweaked my nipples, and I squeaked out a sound of pure lust and froze, humiliated. “Training again tonight, Imogen. You like this too much. Quiet now. Sleep.” I only like it with you, I thought to myself.

R.B. O'Brien has always been drawn to the more taboo side of storytelling, even as a young adult, from hiding books from strict Catholic parents as a teen to getting lost in the erotic sections of bookstores for hours. As a writer, O'Brien explores the darker, erotic nature of relationships, those riddled with the reality of insecurities and human folly, exposing the vulnerability, emotional turmoil, and occasional pain that can come from losing oneself in the heat of passion.

O'Brien holds a degree in English literature and happily resides in the Northeast of the United States. Her first series, the highly acclaimed Natalie's Edge trilogy, is now available in ebook format, the third of which, Redemption, was nominated for the Golden Flogger Award for best BDSM romance. THORNE, O'Brien's second dark romance suspense series is complete and available NOW, a tale where things are not what they seem. O'Brien has just released her award-winning series, formerly the Capture of Rosemary, The IMOGEN series.

“To write is to descend, excavate, to go underground.”—Anais Nin.

O'Brien is a member on The Nu Romantics, a collaborative group who strives to redefine romance.

I may not deserve a second chance but I’m gonna fight like hell to get back in her heart and in her bed.

“Dirty Forever” is the much-anticipated conclusion to the “Dirty Suburbs”, a series of full-length stand-alone romantic comedies about the residents of small town Illinois.

HEA guaranteed. No cliffhangers. No cheating. Promise.

Her pussy spasms around me. Her eyes squeeze shut but I want her looking at me. “Open your eyes,” I whisper, cupping her cheek in my hand. Her lids part and those chestnut irises twinkle at me.

My five senses witness the moment that she explodes. I see the way her face contorts with pleasure. I hear the moans that roll out of her throat. I feel the way her body tenses beneath me. I smell her lust filling the cabin. I lean in and taste her mouth. This is euphoria.

“Daniel...” she moans my name long and low. My orgasm detonates inside of me like a bomb and I shoot my cum into that tight pussy that was made just for me. Grace reaches up and touches my face as I come down from the high.

She rises up with sweat beading on her brow as she looks around. “Don’t tell me we ran out of tissues,” she mutters to herself.

Still breathless, I pick a random piece of food out of her wavy blonde mane. “Think you’ve got animal cookies in your hair.” I chuckle.

“Oh, thanks.” She distractedly runs her fingers through her hair as she bends over clumsily, looking under the seat. “Didn’t I have a roll of paper towel back here?” She leans further and goes careening toward the floor. Luckily, I grab her by the waist before her cranium hits the floor.

As I ease up to pull up my pants, my head goes smack into the roof. “Ouch! Shit!”

“You okay?” she giggles as she rubs the top of my skull.

I smile. “Yeh – I’m good.”

“Okay, this’ll have to do,” she says as she grabs a packet of baby wipes from the floor and hands me a few sheets.

I cock an eyebrow at her as she uses a wad of the wipes to clean herself up between the legs. “Seriously?”

She looks at my expression and bursts into laughter. “We are ridiculous!”

I drink in the sound of her laughter, I let the memory of her smile be seared on my brain. I need this memory. I need more moments like this.

She stares at me as I stare at her. Her cheeks pink up. I love how she still has these little moments when she gets shy in front of me. “What?” she questions softly.

The answer to her innocent question bounces into my mind. I love you...I hate swallowing those words back when they're what I really want to say. It's been too long since she heard that declaration fall from my lips.

Cassie-Ann L. Miller writes steamy contemporary romance with a dash of angst and a sprinkle of humor. And if her toddler weren't rebelling against his bedtime right now, she'd have a minute to write her author biography, too ;)